Publications

March 2009 (Revised July 2010)
Case

IBM: The Corporate Service Corps

By: Christopher Marquis and Rosabeth M. Kanter

Describes the conception, development, and implementation of the Corporate Services Corps (CSC), an international community service assignment for high-potential IBM employees. The year 2008 was the pilot year of the CSC program, and 100 of IBM's best global employees... View Details

Keywords: Developing Countries and Economies; Global Strategy; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Mission and Purpose; Organizational Structure; Partners and Partnerships; Non-Governmental Organizations

September–October 2020
Article

Social-Impact Efforts That Create Real Value

By: George Serafeim

Until the mid-2010s few investors paid attention to environmental, social, and governance (ESG) data—information about companies’ carbon footprints, labor policies, board makeup, and so forth. Today the data is widely used by investors. How can organizations create... View Details

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2014
Chapter

Can For-Profit Corporations Be Good Citizens? Perspectives from Four Business Leaders

By: Nien-he Hsieh

This chapter serves an epilogue, turning to ask practitioners how they would answer the question, "Can for-profit corporations be good citizens?" In reflecting on their answers, the chapter puts forward an account that grounds the purpose and responsibilities of... View Details

Program

Designing and Executing Corporate Revitalization

you will explore the multiple dimensions of corporate revitalization, including strategy, finance, organization, culture, and the leader's role. Whether your company seeks to maximize and fulfill its potential or requires radical... View Details

March 1995 (Revised February 1997)
Case

Apple Computer (A)(Abridged): Corporate Strategy and Culture

By: Michael Beer and Gregory C. Rogers

Provides an overview of the company's history, industry, competitive position, strategy, and organization. Analyzes the culture and morale at Apple. Written at a time when the company faces a very compelling threat to their business, and when morale within the company... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Design; Competitive Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Organizational Culture; Computer Industry

June 2019 (Revised November 2019)
Technical Note

Sustaining Corporate Culture in a Growing Organization

By: Dennis Campbell and Tatiana Sandino

An organization’s culture can be a significant source of sustainable competitive advantage. For the organization, it can attract job candidates who fit and align employees working in different teams around common goals. For employees, a strong culture can generate... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Culture; Growth and Development; Mission and Purpose; Values and Beliefs; Management Systems

23 Aug 2019
Sharpening Your Skills

Has the Corporate Mission Just Been Disrupted?

Business as usual is no longer acceptable, was the message of 200 corporate leaders on August 19, when the Business Roundtable issued a "Statement on the Purpose of a Corporation." No longer should... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Green Technology

03 Feb 2018
Op-Ed

How to Heed BlackRock's Call for Corporate Social Responsibility

ranks. Still, a great deal more needs to happen. Standards and measurement systems are only one part of the solution for changing corporate behaviors, and they are difficult to get right. But as long as we know about the assumptions used... View Details

Keywords: by Julie Battilana

14 Oct 2019
News

A Guide to the Big Ideas and Debates in Corporate Governance

21 Nov 2019
Blog Post

Finding My North Star at the Crossroads of Profit and Purpose

a profound impact on me. I identified with the workers in Africa who were spending months away from their families. Stories about their children going to great colleges and jobs always warmed up my heart. My next couple of assignments were in London and Houston.... View Details

18 Jul 2005
Research & Ideas

Time to Rethink the Corporate Tax System?

Corporations have traditionally considered taxes a painful but necessary cost of doing business. But this view has changed, says Harvard Business School professor Mihir A. Desai. With the advent of sophisticated tax shelters, global... View Details

Keywords: by Ann Cullen

October 14, 2019
Article

A Guide to the Big Ideas and Debates in Corporate Governance

By: Lynn S. Paine and Suraj Srinivasan

How corporations govern themselves has become a matter of broad public interest in recent decades. Amid this many commentators and experts still disagree on such basic matters as the purpose of the corporation, the role of corporate boards of directors, the rights of... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Governance; Mission and Purpose; Governing and Advisory Boards; Business and Shareholder Relations; Performance; Measurement and Metrics

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2004
Chapter

The Exploratory Processes of Entrepreneurial Firms: The Role of Purposeful Experimentation

Keywords: Corporate Entrepreneurship

June 2017 (Revised August 2018)
Supplement

Making Target the Target: Boycotts and Corporate Political Activity (B)

By: Nien-hê Hsieh and Victor Wu

Supplements the (A) Case. View Details

January 2025
Case

Shifting Winds: DEI in Corporate America

By: Clayton S. Rose, Maisie Wiltshire-Gordon and David Lane

In the 2020s, intense and conflicting social and political pressures challenged organizational leaders around the world. Prominent among these were powerful competing views on workplace diversity, equity, and inclusion programs (DEI) in the United States. Public... View Details

Teaching Interest

Empirical Research in Financial Reporting and Corporate Governance

By: Suraj Srinivasan

This course is a survey of financial accounting research intended for doctoral students. The primary purpose of the course is to introduce fundamental research themes and methodologies used in empirical financial accounting research. Participants will become... View Details

2006
Working Paper

On the Origin of Shared Beliefs (and Corporate Culture)

By: Eric J. Van den Steen

This paper shows why members of an organization often share similar beliefs. I argue that there are two mechanisms. First, when performance depends on making correct decisions, people prefer to work with others who share their beliefs and assumptions, since such... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Culture; Employees; Values and Beliefs; Mathematical Methods

SSRN

July 2024
Module Note

The Scope of the Corporation

By: David J. Collis

Every company, regardless of size or configuration, has to make decisions about the appropriate scope of its operations. In fact, the issue is so fundamental that Ronald Coase won the Nobel Prize in Economics for merely asking the question, “what determines the scope... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Strategy; Mission and Purpose